Call for watchdog to investigate PM over Telstra

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The corporate watchdog should investigate the actions of Prime
Minister John Howard in its Telstra probe, federal parliament heard
today.

As debate on the government's Telstra sale bills continued,
Independent MP Peter Andren launched a bitter attack on the
government.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has
begun investigating whether Telstra broke stock market rules by
only giving the document to the government instead of all its 1.6
million shareholders last month.

He accused it of deliberately deceiving Australians about the
true state of the telco's phone network.

He also said Prime Minister John Howard misled shareholders by
failing to release a secret Telstra document handed to him last
month detailing the telco's problems.

Mr Howard maintains it would have been illegal for him to
publicly release the document, which Telstra this week handed to
the Australian Stock Exchange.

Mr Andren also said Mr Howard's actions should be looked at as
part the ASIC investigation.

"While ASIC looks at Telstra's use of reserves to fund dividends
and while the stock exchange examines Telstra management's talking
down of Telstra's share price to what appear to be realistic levels
so to should ASIC and the stock exchange examine the Prime Minister
and his ministers' role in urging up the price of Telstra's
shares," he said.

Mr Andren said the failure to disclose details of the company's
true financial state to the market amounted to insider trading.

"The leaked briefing from Telstra to the prime minister reveals
a disgraceful neglect of service delivery to rural and regional
Australia by Telstra and this government and a cover-up of
monumental proportions," he told parliament.

"It is insider trading and a failure of corporate
governance.

"The government has been deliberately deceiving Australians
about the true state of the telecommunications network to boost
Telstra's market value."

Earlier, the first Nationals MP to contribute to the debate on
the bills, John Forrest, conceded that if he was to ask his
constituents whether they supported the privatisation of Telstra,
the majority would say no.

"But if I rephrase the question and say to them, 'Would you like
me to assiduously argue on your behalf to get a regulatory
framework and a capital fund to ensure that you no longer have to
wait in the stone-age - a decade behind your city cousins - for
modern telecommunication services?' they would all earnestly say
yes we want that."

Liberal MP Barry Wakelin, whose electorate of Grey covers most
of South Australia, said he had never had a problem with phone
services, except for the time he cut a cable when he was using a
post-hole digger on his property.

"By the way, I fixed it up myself," he told parliament.

"We are in a position to go forward with our $3 billion, the $2
billion in the future proofing fund and in the $1.1 billion in the
immediate four to five years period."

Independent MP Tony Windsor said Mr Wakelin had made the point
that consumers in country areas would have to learn to make their
own repairs on phone lines once Telstra was privatised.

"They are going to have to become very self reliant, they are
going to have to develop skills, as the member for Grey spoke about
in digging posts holes," he said.

"They are going to have to be able to fix their own lines as the
Member for Grey has been capable of doing."

Mr Windsor said he recently went on a 10,000km drive to test the
mobile phone services around the country.

"I have to say that the electorate of Grey, out of all of the
electorates that I travelled through, had the worst mobile service
of any of those electorates," he said.

Mr Windsor said during his 10,000km drive, there was only
1,800km where he could access mobile networks.

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